Toyota takes fun to the masses with 200-hp sports coupe

2 of 10The Toyota 86 sports coupe is named after the legendary Corolla AE86 from the 1980s.

Photo by DINO DALLE CARBONARE

3 of 10The 86 was jointly developed with Subaru, which debuts its version--the BRZ--at this week's Tokyo Motor Show. Toyota did the styling, while Subaru provided the four-cylinder horizontally opposed boxer engine. Subaru will build both versions at its factory in Gumma, Japan.

Photo by Toyota

4 of 10A sticker of around $26,000 is what we're expecting

Photo by Toyota

5 of 10Toyota hasn't disclosed a price or gas-mileage estimates.

Photo by Toyota

6 of 10Toyota wants to deliver a ride that can be easily customized and tuned by car buffs

Photo by Toyota

7 of 10With the 86, Toyota wants a car that will achieve a low price point that can lure recent college graduates

Photo by Toyota

8 of 10The car, to be called the Toyota 86 in Japan and sold as the Scion FR-S in the United States

10 of 10The 86 hits a top speed of 142 mph and can do 0-to-62-mph in 6 seconds

Photo by Toyota

Toyota President Akio Toyoda unveiled his company's new 200-hp rear-wheel-drive sports coupe before thousands of fans at a Formula One race track on Monday in his bid to spice up a brand better known for bland but utilitarian offerings such as the Corolla and Camry.

The car, to be called the Toyota 86 in Japan and sold as theScion FR-S in the United States, has been in the works for five years and received close scrutiny from Toyoda, who is banking on the car as an affordable halo model to burnish the company's performance credentials.

The 86 hits a top speed of 142 mph and can do a 0-to-62-mph run in six seconds. But raw speed is not the goal, says chief engineer Tetsuya Tada. The model's true mission is multifold:

-- Achieve a low price point that can lure recent college graduates.

-- Strive for fun-to-drive handling with a low center of gravity.

-- Strip out fancy electronic-control systems and turbochargers.

-- Deliver a ride that can be easily customized and tuned by car buffs.

Toyota hasn't disclosed a price or gas-mileage estimates. But the company has said it is targeting a sticker around 2 million yen ($26,000). Tada said the goal is to price the car in a range that would be affordable to recent college graduates.

Going low-tech

"A lot of cars these days are controlled by computer chips, and that leads to a sense of the car driving you, instead of you driving the car," Tada said after the 86's introduction Monday at the Toyota-owned Fuji Speedway outside Tokyo near the base of snow-capped Mount Fuji. "We decided to use as few computer controls as possible. We wanted to go back to basics."

The 86 was jointly developed with Subaru, which debuts its version--the BRZ--at this week's Tokyo motor show. Toyota did the styling, while Subaru provided the four-cylinder horizontally opposed boxer engine. Subaru will build both versions at its factory in Gunma, Japan.

Toyoda--clad in a red-and-black racing suit--introduced the car himself by flooring a bright vermillion 86 down the straightaway at the Fuji Speedway, where some 20,000 car buffs gathered to witness the debut and participate in the annual Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival.

The car's name in Japan--86--is a nod to the popular AE86 line of Corolla-based sports cars that Toyota rolled out in the 1980s. Toyota evoked its sporty roots at the tuner festival with a parade of vintage sports cars that included Toyota fan club members driving their original 86s, 2000 GTs, Sport 800s from the 1960s and a sampling of souped-up Supras.

The 86 first appeared as a candy-apple-red FT-86 concept at the 2009 Tokyo motor show. In Japan, the production version drops the "FT" nomenclature for concepts that means "Future Toyota." In Europe, the car will be sold as the Toyota GT 86.

No design by committee

Tada admits the car won't satisfy everyone, and he's fine with that. Toyota broke with a long tradition of designing by committee to deliver a car rendered by sports-car enthusiasts assembled from within the company, he said. They focused on driving feel, not on numbers.

"When you show a sports car to the board of directors, the first thing they ask is how fast it is, what is the lap time, how does its speed compare with rivals. Marketing initially opposed the concept, saying it's not fast enough and didn't have enough new technology," Tada said.

"But what is unique about this car is that we didn't target numerical performance goals. We ignored the traditional Toyota development pattern," Tada said. "And the only reason we could do that is because there is a man on the board of directors named Akio Toyoda."

Toyoda, a racing fanatic, was especially hands on in flavoring the 86--checking in monthly on the car's development. He often test-drove the 86 and gave orders on what to fix.

The Toyota 86 gets a 2.0-liter four cylinder, DOHC boxer engine from Subaru equipped with Toyota's D-4S fuel injection system. It comes mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission, while delivering 200 hp and topping out at 7,000 rpm.

The fuel-injection system has twin injectors for both direct and port injection.

The car enters production next spring and goes on sale next year in the United States.

Nimble, customizable

During a test drive for journalists on Fuji's short circuit, the 86 demonstrated lively pickup, good balance and nimble handling--all with the distinctive growling rumble of Subaru's boxer power plant. More-punishing journalists had a field day screeching and drifting through the turns.

Handling is improved by the boxer engine's low center of gravity.

The interior styling reflects what Tada calls "neofunctionalism." It is a no-frills, utilitarian look focusing on old-school dials and switches--with the meter cluster built around the tachometer.

Some paneling is simply shiny black plastic, while other trim gets a faux carbon-fiber texture. The deep bucket seats have sporty red stitching with ample side bolstering.

The steering wheel is the smallest in the Toyota lineup with a diameter of 365 millimeters (14 inches). Toyota says this provides optimal steering performance and grip.

The 86 seats four with cramped rear leg room. But the back seats fold down to provide space for luggage or--as Toyota pitches it--racing tires and tool kits.

Toyota envisions the car as being popular with the tuner crowd and aims to promote that use by making the car easily upgradable with a plethora of accessories and add-ons.